Of course, the entire Germany side has to deal with these teams, but goalkeeper is an especially perilous sort in the World Cup. Iker Casillas was really good for Spain as they won it all four years ago:

And of course, Brazilians still aren’t over Barbosa’s missed save opportunity in 1950’s World Cup:

It’s nearly impossible to win a WC without a goalie who’s at least being highly above-average. You can easily argue that Lionel Messi has the most pressure this World Cup — trying to cement his international legacy in a country that probably roundly hates him — and you can argue that Neymar, as the new face of Brazilian soccer, is 1A (if they don’t win it all on home soil, that’s not a good thing). Manuel Neuer might be 2-3. If he has a spectacular World Cup, he could carry Germany to their first championship since 1990 — and they were West Germany then. Could we see a rematch of the 2002 Finals somewhere along the line?